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GeneralRecollections of the Picher Field

23rd Feb 2014 20:18 UTCAlfred L. Ostrander

A while back I entered into a trade with a collector who had spent some time underground working at the mines at Picher, Oklahoma. As several packages and e-mails went back and forth he told me some of his stories. I asked if it was alright to share them. He agreed but out of respect for the many men who spent their lives in the mine and helped him learn his job he requested that he remain anonymous.Their story was as much, if not more than his. I have not really edited his stories, just ordered some of the paragraphs into a better timeline and relative topics. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I have.

I first went into the mines in around 1967, gouging they called it, cleaning up ore that was left and there was quite a lot of it. It probably wasn't legal but no one paid much attention to where you were taking ore from what mine. To me it was a great experience, wish I could have been there in the prime of it all. Most people have no idea what it is like underground there. Of course, it's all flooded now. I was told by many many miners that if you knew how to you could go from Oklahoma to under Joplin, Missouri all underground from one mine to the other. I'm sure you could have before the water started taking it. I think it was something like forty miles to Joplin.

To me it was always a wonder how anyone knew where one mine ended and the property of another started, there were no signs, stakes, or markers that I ever saw. Maybe in the prime there were.

The Kenoyer was a good sized mine, there were 3 or 4 older mines that were bought and composed the Kenoyer. The shaft was around 320 feet-actually there were 7 shafts I think but when I worked the mine there was only one hoisting shaft.

The big "calcite cave" was in the Kenoyer mine. We opened a huge calcite cave, the crystals were scalenohedrons from 1/2 inch to over 4 feet high resting on the belly-floor. Every inch was covered in crystal, thousands of double terminated of every size. This cave was something like 20 to 25 feet wide over 70 feet long. It had an upper room you had to go through a hole in the roof to get into it. It was not as big as the main part. The cave went back and narrowed down and you had to crawl but it kept on going as far as a light would shine. Most calcite and beautiful crystals I had seen. This was back in the '70's.

The Kenoyer was surrounded by other mines of course. The Rialto, The Golden Hawk, The Skelton, The Admiralty were some of them. It seemed like in each mine there would be some crystals or formation/combination that were different. The Golden Hawk had a lot of sphalerite with chalopyrites, the Skelton had these "floater" plates of crystals of sphalerite, dolomite, and calcite. you could find seams or cracks that were filled with hand sized plates of crystals, just wiggle on them until you could pull them out. Of course I was supposed to be mucking ore instead of this!! Anyway, good memories

I feel real lucky to have been there and the fellas I have known-it's a time and a way of life gone forever.

If you have enjoyed these short recollections, I will try to get a few more and post them. To me, stories from the miners need to be saved just as much as any other part of the history of mining. So here is a tip of my hard hat to the miners who moved the earth.

Best Regards,

Al O

23rd Feb 2014 20:54 UTCRob Woodside 🌟 Manager

I got specimens in the 60's from Picher. Thanks for sharing

24th Feb 2014 00:56 UTCJohn R. Montgomery 🌟 Expert

Very interesting Alfred, and quite amazing! I look forward to more stories.

Cheers

John

24th Feb 2014 04:33 UTCMatt Ciranni

wow...that's crazy...all those endless tunnels, imagine trying to map a network of tunnels spanning over 40 miles!! And to think of all those beautiful mineral specimens still down there, all those huge calcite and sphalerite that would take up a whole floor but cost like 25-30$ for an average sized specimen at a mineral show.

24th Feb 2014 05:24 UTCDana Slaughter 🌟 Expert

Several years ago I bought the Ted and Marie Duprey collection of Wyoming, Michigan and, during the course of cataloging the collection, they regaled me with stories of collecting underground at Picher. They visited in the late 60s and were allowed to rob pillars before the last mines shut down for good and flooded. They told me that the only tool that they needed was a screwdriver to move breccia plates around within collapsed pockets! They had a large number of calcite, chalcopyrite, dolomite, galena and sphalerite specimens and further told me that all of the larger (1 foot plus specimens) were hauled to the surface and then given away to some college students that were set to visit the mine. I don't think that they had a large piece in their collection and mentioned that they gave away a couple dozen large pieces because they were so heavy and really didn't have room in their vehicle!

The Tri-State district has been my favorite since I was a kid and I still buy quality Tri-State pieces whenever possible and just got a large and fabulous sphalerite with chalcopyrite, dolomite and marcasite specimen and its much smaller cousin at the Tucson Show. Can't get enough!

24th Feb 2014 05:49 UTCRock Currier Expert

In the late sixties I took a job with a company to supervise mixing chemical solutions for a company in New York, and on my way back to New York, I stopped in the Tristate District and located a guy named Chink Enders who was working in a mine to gouge out what ever ore he could get out of a mine called Enders lease. We rode to the bottom of the shaft in an ore bucket and there he turned me loose to collect what ever I could find. Nested bushel baskets, the top one stuffed with news papers were what I put the specimens in. I found a pocket full of calcite crystals within 50 feet of the shaft and loaded it up with clusters of calcite crystals. The specimens were a little smoky with (years of diesel exhaust?) and lying loose and I had only to pick them out of the pocket and wrapped. After I got tired of that I started to wonder around and became aware of the vast extent of the mine(s). I looked through a hole in one pillar into a room the size of a bedroom that was lined with big calcite crystals, and almost every where you went you could find something to collect if you wanted to. For a guy who in the past who had to work hard for the specimens he collected it was almost obscene. The day passed in a flash and on the way out of the mine, Chink apologized about the poor collecting I had found, although I was very happy about what I had found. He said that his diesel powered jeep was not running but if I would come back in a couple of days he would get it running and we could visit some good places to collect. I was under a time deadline and I could not take him up on his offer and had to be on my way to New York, but I have wondered ever sense what I would have gotten to see and collect if I had only been able to stick around for a few days in that honey pot.

24th Feb 2014 13:29 UTCJeff Weissman Expert

Great stories, after only having seen the mines from the surface while driving on the back roads around Picher, it is great to hear these anecdotes.

24th Feb 2014 16:49 UTCHarold (Hal) Prior Expert

I visited Chink Enders on a number of occassions, to buy. One time in 1967 I arrived just as he was cleaning (with a garden hose) newly collected pieces to take to a show next day. Gave me choice for $5 each - wished I would have had more money. Never had the time to go into the mine - Chink would always take my sons to the nearby dairy queen for ice cream. Most of you probably know "Chink" was tragically murdered by serial killer and his body dumped down a mine shaft many years ago. His killer was still on death row a couple years ago in Oklahoma.

The power source to take the ore bucket down and the old Jeep was not overly reliable and it was always a risk to spend time stuck on bottom while Chink Repaired one or both. On one occasion thieves stole all the copper wire lines leading to mine and a group of collectors help string new wire on the poles before they could go underground. Many $$$$ of great specimens remain under water below - Picher specimens often get sold as being Joplin, Missouri

24th Feb 2014 19:41 UTCErik Vercammen Expert

Is it possible that someone collects these memories in an article (paste copy), to add with a link on the locality page?

25th Feb 2014 20:36 UTCHarold (Hal) Prior Expert

One of my collector friends on one collecting occasion with Chink found a small opening into a room sized pocket lined with 12" - 18" DT calcites. The opening was to small for Chink (a larger man) to comfortably get through. It was negotiated that if my friend would collect the pocket Chink would give him one half with no collecting fee. Two long days of collecting resulted in plenty of GREAT specimens for both. I can confirm this as I've seen the best of the find now displayed in a special cabinet.

25th Feb 2014 22:45 UTCBob Harman

Googling Picher, Oklahoma gives a very interesting history. The extensive Tristate District underground mines and extensive lead contamination of ground water (30% of local children had hi blood lead levels) resulted in the whole town officially being declared an environmental disaster area by the US EPA. The whole town was unsafe to live in as building collapses became frequent. As such all home and business owners were given an option of buy out by the federal government. This is one of only 2 or a handful of US sites that have met this designation. The vast majority of inhabitants took the offers and had moved by 2008. Then an EF 4 tornado virtually leveled the remaining buildings, further sealing the town's demise. By 2011 only 1 family is said to have remained. As part of the extensive EPA cleanup, by 2013 all remaining structures were demolished; the town of Picher, Oklahoma is pretty much just history now…….not even a ghost town. CHEERS…….BOB

26th Feb 2014 00:03 UTCMatt Ciranni

Sounds like what happened to the coal mining town of Centralia, Pensylvania, plus wasnt there some town in Missouri that got closed down from some kind of chemical contamination?

The old town of Cobalt, near the Blackbird Mine here in Idaho, was recently bulldozed due to contamination; Blackbird Creek is still flowing with bright orange water. Cobalt had been deserted at least a couple decades ago, however, but until just a few years ago some of the buildings were still there. On the subject of rockhounding, the mine itself also used to be a good rockhounding spot but it's gated off now though, as Noranda is doing some kind of reclamation work up there.

26th Feb 2014 04:44 UTCHarold (Hal) Prior Expert

Barbers Hill in Texas (Chambersite locale) was closed and moved several miles down I-10 due to salt dome collapse.

26th Feb 2014 07:48 UTCDale Foster Manager

I just did a goole search for Picher, what a fascinating place!

If I ever have the opportunity to visit the US, I would be interested to go and have a look around there.

Glad we don't have the EPA over here as they would have had a hissy fit over Cornwall - around 3000 mines of all sizes in a county that is barely 100 miles end to end.

The towns of Camborne and Redruth mark the principal mining district, the mileage of tunnels in this area is huge, probably several hundred miles in total taking into account the levels at all depths.

This is a surface view looking eastwards from the old Dolcoath Mine towards Redruth:

My day to day job is producing reports on past mining activity relating to property purchasing and development as mine workings do sometimes interfere with property:

In this instance ancient mine workings subsided causing partial collapse of a house, this happened towards the end of January this year.

26th Feb 2014 11:59 UTCSusan Robinson

My husband, George, collected in the Tri-State District in the late 1960s, and knew Chink Enders well. George told me on one trip, he took along 600 lbs. of newspaper for wrapping specimens, and was shipping them back East in 55 gallon drums. He ran out of paper and had to go looking for more, since the collecting was so abundant. Chink was quite a character and I met him one time while we were there. He had a small barn that had a two-headed calf (stuffed), and other oddities, including mining memorabilia, along with nice mineral specimens from the Mid Continent mine. George said that when miners/collectors found a huge cavity of calcite points, they would have to lay down boards and ruin many crystals, in order to collect farther back in the immense pocket. We also went to Boodle Lane's shop and he had many fine minerals for sale there. Having gone through that area about 10 years ago, there is hardly any evidence left of headframes, mineral shops, etc.

I'm surprised that there has never been a book nor an extensive article on the Tri-State District to my recollection. While the mines were active, we all thought that the supply would never end, but it eventually did. Surprisingly, the small museums there have only a portion of the great minerals that the mines produced. The Seaman Mineral Museum has an extensive collection of Tri-State minerals, and several outstanding pale purple twins of calcite from Webb City among them.

26th Feb 2014 14:47 UTCBarb Matz

I read about another aspect of this, and here's what I remember of it: The town of Picher apparently had some archives and specimens, maybe a small museum. Because it was all closing down, the collection was given to a nearby town in Kansas to go into their museum. The transfer took place shortly before the tornado hit, thank goodness! (I may have read that in another post on this site.)

26th Feb 2014 18:18 UTCTom Tucker

I believe the Picher material went to the very nice small museum in Baxter Springs, Kansas. Well worth a visit, even before the Picher material was included.

It was mentioned above that there are high levels of various metals in the Picher area groundwater, and perhaps soil. Is there any data extant detailing what similar metal levels may have been before or early in the mining process ?

25th May 2014 02:57 UTCEdward Bayley

There is also the The Everett J. Ritchie Tri-State Mineral Museum in Joplin, MO. I have not been there,I have seen pictures. There are some massive specimens there from the Tri-State mines. It on my list of museums to visit for sure. It seems to have been relocated to the Joplin Museum Complex. They have a Facebook and some photos are on there showing some of huge calcites and galenas.

25th May 2014 03:56 UTCDana Slaughter 🌟 Expert

Hi Edward,

The Tri-State museum is a must! It is small but the specimens and the historical collections and displays upstairs are a real treat. It is not hard to imagine how busy Joplin was during the mining boom times and I imagined old cars parked in front of businesses and shops and miners lined up at the bars on payday. The staff and museum are excellent and well worth the side trip to Joplin when traveling in the area.

29th Nov 2014 21:32 UTCRodger (Todg) Smith

I was raised in Miami, Oklahoma and spent a great portion of my life in Pitcher working for my father. My father, Holland (Hod) Smith, worked the mines for most of his life beginning when he was 11 years old (1911) until his death in 1976, He learned his craft as a welder in the mines and eventually worked for Eagle Pitcher after serving in World War II. In the 1950s he established his own welding shop in Pitcher where he remained until his death. I am working on several projects to tell his story and that of Pitcher before it all passes out of mind. While my dad told me many stories, I don't remember nearly enough of them. My father and I hunted ever inch of the fields around all of those mines and he would often tell me stories about the mines, the shafts, and some of the people who worked there in the lawless 20s and 30s. He loved Pitcher and refused to leave even as the mines deteriorated and closed. In the early 60s he developed a small explosive business to supplement his welding and I would work delivering to the mines and making the casings that would hold the explosives.

I am looking for archives, letters, memoirs, anything that helps tell the story of Pitcher over the years. While much has been made of its last years and while that is important, I'm most interested in the early history through to the days of its closing. I would appreciate any leads as to historical material, stories, archives, reflections, and memories of the men and women of Pitcher. In particular I'm interested in finding the files (if the exist) from the old newspaper. I have just begun my research and am open to any help, thoughts, stories or ideas others might have about life in Pitcher.

My email is: . Any and all help is appreciated. This is a story worth telling ... all of them!

Rodger (sometimes known as Little Hod) Smith

30th Nov 2014 13:35 UTCRock Currier Expert

I'm glad someone is going to do this.

30th Nov 2014 16:52 UTCAlfred L. Ostrander

Hello Rodger,

As Rock said, "I'm glad someone is going to do this." Since the first posting of this thread I have had some serious health issues. I am doing pretty well now. And I am in touch with my source. We both got sidetracked onto another interest we both have. And I still need to get a decent camera and work on better pictures of the specimens I have from the entire tri-state, not just Picher. From first mining to present status as what is probably the largest superfund cleanup site in the nation, the history of the area is a great American story.

Just keep in mind the actual spelling of the town and field is Picher. Even with the t in you will get lots of hits on google searches. And a lot of the history of the area is found by researching the Tri-State District that Picher is considered to be a part of.

Best Regards,

Al O

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